Absolute Sound – “the ARIES is a superb high-resolution digital audio delivery system that is, despite its relatively modest price, entirely suitable for use with very high performance DACs. When listening to files delivered through the ARIES, listeners can expect very quiet backgrounds, exemplary amounts of low-level sonic information, and the sort of timing stability that gives sonic images and soundstages an extra measure of solidity and three-dimensionality “

“Having the ARIES in my system has transformed my review listening experiences for the better; the ARIES gives me instant access to my music library (including all of my high-res PCM and DSD files), plus the ability to explore streaming content whenever I choose. But above all, ARIES is a convenient, reliable, and easy-to-use system that imposes virtually no compromises in performance.”

"the ARIES will ...serve up soundstages that are eerily realistic, lavishly detailed in all the right subtle ways, and intensely three-dimensional. Or, play a relatively demanding percussion-orientated piece... and note how incredibly incisive, explosive, rich, and focused the music sounds"

"I threw some of my most dense music at the Aries.. and it unraveled even the monstrously complex and overdriven bits without issue. On lessor equipment, aspects of this music can sound like a wall of impenetrable noise but not so with the Aries which kept a crack of light open even in the darkest passages. I'd attribute this again to very low self-noise floor and a very resolving system.

More delicate music... fared well too, its acoustic sounds coming across as natural and delicate."

“The Aries has a nice sense of touch, a deft way with dynamics and micro-dynamics making music sound alive and lively. Simple solitary music resounded convincingly from within a quiet, deep, space."

https://www.audiostream.com/content/auralic-aries-0

These are only some of the many reviews and accolades the Auralic Aries Network Player has gotten. These were with older firmware. The latest Beta 5.1 firmware is even better and this makes it upgradeable and never obsolete.